Review by Choice Review
In the first chapter of this book, "Social Agency," Vanden Bossche (Univ. of Notre Dame) surveys the 19th-century reform movement and analyzes what the Victorians thought about agency (the capacity to act) as reform--the focus of debate being whether it was actually reform or revolution. Viewing the novel as a social agent seeking "improvement of the social order," the author then examines how novels of the first half of the century sought reform through franchise and the power to legislate. The study covers both canonical and noncanonical novels and also the elite and the chartist press. Examining the work of novelists such as Charles Kingsley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Martin Wheeler, Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, and Pierce Egan, Vanden Bossche studies such topics as reform of agriculture and parliament and the need for working-class cooperation. Students of 19th-century history, literature, and political science will find fresh insights here. --J. Don Vann, University of North Texas
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
